394 W. T. BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



darkening the sun, and obscuring every object a few rods distant. So toppling was the crest 

 of this cone, so great the heat, and so deadly the gases, that we could find no position where 

 we could look down the throat or orifice; and could we have done so, it is not probable that 

 we should have seen the deep fountain below us, as the lavas were forced up its horrid 

 chimney from the burning bowels of the earth. I have no doubt that the point at which 

 the igneous river flowed off in its lateral duct was at least five hundred, perhaps a thousand 

 feet below us. 



"The summit cone which we ascended was about one hundred feet high, say five hundred 

 feet long and three hundred broad at its base. Several other cones below us were of the 

 same form and general character, presenting the appearance of smoking tumuli along the 

 upper slope of the mountain. As you descend the mountain these cones become lower and 

 less frequent, but here they are the rims or jagged jaws of those orifices through which we 

 look into that subterranean tube of angry fusion which hurries with such fearful speed down 

 the side of the mountain. The molten stream first appears some ten miles below the foun- 

 tain crater, and as we viewed it rushing out from beneath the black rocks, and, in the 

 twinkling of an eye, diving again into its fiery den, it produced indescribable feelings of awe 

 and dread. 



" This summit crater I estimate at twelve thousand feet elevation ; the principal stream 

 (there are many lesser and lateral ones) including all its windings, sixty miles long; average 

 breadth, three miles ; depth, from three to three hundred feet, according to the surface over 

 which it flowed. The present eruption is between those of 1843 and 1852, and from our 

 high tower we could see them both and trace their windings. 



" Early on Monday we decamped and set our faces for Kilauea, distant some thirty-five 

 miles, hoping by a forced inarch to reach it at night. At eight a.m., we passed the seat of 

 the grand eruption of 1852, and travelled for miles on its cinders. A little steam only 

 issues from that cone whose awful throat, in 1852, sent up a column of glowing fusion to 

 the height of a thousand feet. We explored Kilauea, and on Thursday reached Hilo. 



" Hilo is now in a state of solemn and thoughtful suspense. The great summit fountain 

 is still playing with fearful energy and the devouring stream rushes madly clown towards us. 

 It is now about ten miles distant, — nearly through the woods, following the right bank of 

 the Wailuku, and heading directly for our bay. 



" October 22. It is now seventy-two days since the eruption commenced, and the foun- 

 tain is in full force. The matter disgorged is of the same general character as in former 

 eruptions. We saw nothing new. Among the salts, sulphur, and sulphate of lime are the 

 most abundant. They are scattered freely at several points along the line of flow." 



Mr. Coan, it will be seen, struck the flow at a point above the terminus and followed it to 

 its source. On his return he determined to cut through the forest and meet the stream. 

 Following a branch of the Wailuku in a drenching rain which made the stream almost 

 impassable, he thus describes the scene : ' — 



"So soon as we entered this stream we found it discolored with pyroligneous acid from 

 burning wood, whose odor and lustre became more and more positive the further we ad- 

 vanced up the stream. The discoloration also became more apparent as we proceeded, until 

 the water was almost black. This showed that the lava flow had crossed the head waters of 

 the stream and its small tributaries, consuming the forest and jungle, and sending down 

 what could not be evaporated of the juices to mingle with the stream. 



l Silliman's Journal, [n. s.] vol. xxi., p. 23 7. The letter is dated Nov. 16, 1855. 



